


Can't I Float?

by ThiefOfADHD



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also this is minor venting on my behalf, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Autistic Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Dyslexic Lance (Voltron), I just wanted this posted before S7 came out, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Lance (Voltron) Has Self-Esteem Issues, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 07:38:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15636204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThiefOfADHD/pseuds/ThiefOfADHD
Summary: Before S7 drops, I had to get this out. Just... Lance has a lot to deal with between Keith leaving.Featuring: My very, very long sibling list for his family, bc big families warm my heart.





	Can't I Float?

Lance couldn't believe what he was hearing. He forgot what was actually being said, all he knew was everyone was suddenly hugging Keith, and then he was gone. He left his paladin armor and jacket, and soon… he was gone.

Months must've went by. Pidge found her brother and father, Shiro kept lashing out at him. Days blurred, he forgot what everything was.

He guessed Coran's brain worm helped him out with his acting skills. He seemed to be faking everything nowadays. The only passion he had was his workouts - he can't call it training. That was _his_ wording - and in diplomatic meetings.

* * *

_“¡Lanza! ¡Verónica! ¡Dejen de tirarse del pelo!”_

_Lance grunted, shoving his little sister off of him after letting go of her dark curls. He knew he was in trouble when his mother yelled in Spanish. They were a bilingual family, but they spoke a lot of English at home._

_“Sorry, mamá!” He yelled along with his sister, who ran off suddenly. He sighed, sliding off the couch._

_His mother, with her almost-red colored curls walked in and sat on the couch. She pulled him up, hugging him close to herself. Or, as close as she could with a large baby bump on her._

_Lance hugged back, looking up at his mom before she pulled away and gave him a garlic knot. She'd been cooking for some time, after all._

_“Here, bebé. Try this. I've been tweaking my recipe for papá’s snack shack.” She cooed, handing him a garlic knot. He blinked, taking a bite. When he pulled it away-_

_“Mamá! You put cheese in it!” He shrieked, smiling excitedly. She had to laugh._

_“You dork. I have some with pepperoni chunks. Papá is gonna sell them original, cheese-stuffed, and pizza-stuffed.” She kissed his cheek, smiling. “Are you doing alright, sweetie?”_

_Lance sighed, looking away. “I dunno. Hard day, I guess.” He shrugged. His mom’s smile noticeably lessened._

_“You wanna have a home spa hour and talk about it?” She asked softly. Lance nodded, trying to force back tears. He got up, helping his struggling mom get up as well._

* * *

The words ‘You Died’ flashed on the screen over and over again. Lance gave up playing his video games, turning his system off. His room was barren, empty. Except for the gaming stuff. He groaned, getting up and leaving his room. He needed to walk around.

When he found himself in Keith’s room, he whimpered. His blanket was still there, with his pillow and jacket. He took them hesitantly, trembling as he walked back to his own room.

* * *

_“Lance, do you have any girl names for me?” His mother asked, their face masks hardening as she painted his fingernails. They were blue. He liked blue._

_“Hayley- but like, H-A-L-E-Y. Or Holly! Haley? Mamá, what do you like? Haley or Holly?” He asked, looking at her gently._

_“I think I like both. What about boys names?” She asked._

_“Hm… Dante!” He tried to smile, hard to do with the face mask. She laughed._

_“Edelira!” A voice call through the house, and Lance stomped his heel into the bed. He didn't like how loud it was._

_“In here, Eterio!” She called back, ruffling Lance’s hair gently with worry._

_The man, Eterio, walked into the bedroom, scooping Lance up and hugging him close. “Hey, buddy, how're you doing?”_

_“M’good.” He mumbled, snuggling into his father with a whine._

_Footsteps came in, and an older boy, his brother, came in._

_“Papá, Marco and Luis want you.” He whined._

_“Alright, Arthur, I'll go to them.” He ruffled his hair. “Lance? Wanna go see abuelita?”_

_“Yeah.” He mumbled, getting down and hurrying to another room, where his abuela was._

* * *

Lance still didn't know how the Altean pool worked, and with everybody too busy to talk to, he decided to test it himself. All alone.

Setting his towel down, he went to the pillars holding the pool up. He touched one, the light glowing a bit brighter as he felt himself grow weightless-

Oh. _Oh._

“Wha-”

Lance was floating, flipping upside down before falling upward into the pool. With that, he surfaced, floating on his back.

He stared down at the floor, soon shutting his eyes. From there, he floated.

He felt the cool water warm his back and his stomach, chest and face dry and cool off. His hair floated as the locks on his forehead curled. He'd have to straighten his hair after a shower later.

* * *

_“Edelira, we need to tell Lance the truth.”_

_“Eterio, he's six years old. How are we going to tell him?”_

_Lance was standing next to his parents’ bedroom door, listening to his parents talk  about him. He felt a well of darkness fill him as he gripped his shirt._

_“We need to tell him now, that way he won't have to figure it out later on.” His father whispered, and he could hear the bed  squeak. His father probably sat down._

_“Eterio…”_

_“Do you not want to tell him?”_

_A sob left his mom, and it quickly became muffled. He was scared, what were they talking about? What was wrong with him?_

_He felt someone touch his shoulder, and he turned around. Behind him was his two older siblings. His brother, Arthur, led him to their shared room, and Lance had to look over at Mateo. He was his younger brother- twin brother, in fact. They looked alike, yes, but Lance had freckles on his cheeks and shoulders and moles on his legs. As well as a strange birthmark on his left hip._

_“Lance. change into your swimsuit.” Arthur whispered, giving him his blue swim trunks. Lance paused, nodding and changing quickly before being led by Arthur to his sister._

_“Nessie, what are we doing?” He asked, whispering as she picked him up. She was only two years older than him, and Arthur a year older than her, but they were mischievous._

_“Swimming. The stars are out.” Nessie, or Vanessa, smiled, her curly reddish hair bouncing as she led them out to the beach._

* * *

“I don't have time for this, Lance!” Keith yelled, walking past him and ignoring him in favor of talking to the others.

He stood, arms out as his chest bubbled in pain. Nobody listened to him, nobody cared about him.

And even with the battle they were all about to have, with the fight against Lotor, with Keith and Shiro…

* * *

_“Arthur? Do you know what mamá and papá were talking about?” Lance asked, floating next to his brother. With the dark ocean and the stars above them being reflected, it felt like they were swimming in the stars._

_“Why do you ask?” He turned to him, shifting and swimming to him._

_“They're hiding something from me… something that makes me different.” He sighed. “Do you know if I'm different?”_

_Arthur sighed, hugging him. Vanessa swam to them, joining in the hug._

_“What's going on?” She asked._

_“Lance says mamá and papá are-”_

_“ARTHUR! VANESSA! LANCE!”_

_All three froze when a flashlight fell on them. Their mother glared at them, fuming with anger._

* * *

Lance was breaking down. Shiro had tried to tell him he died.

He failed Shiro.

He failed everyone. And everyone must've hated him. Nobody cared about him.

The castle was gone.

They were going home.

* * *

_“Why would you go out to the ocean this late at night when nobody knew where you were!?! What if the tide went out and dragged you too far!?! What if you wound up dead!?!” Edelira yelled at them, tears streaming down her face. By now, the whole house was up._

_Mateo sat on the couch with Veronica, young baby Jenny, and the twins, Marco and Luis. Eterio walked around with Evan crying in his arms._

_“What are you hiding from me?” Lance asked suddenly. Everyone stopped, looking at him._

_“What, sweetheart?” Edelira asked._

_“You and papá were talking about me. What is it?”_

_Edelira sat next to Lance, troubled as he took a deep breath._

* * *

“LANCE!!” Keith called loudly, his voice echoing as they sat in a deserted area of Earth.

Lance heard footsteps approaching him, feeling a hand on his shoulder.

“Lance, why did you run?” He asked, gripping him. Lance didn't turn, just simply let the tears fall down his face aggressively.

“Did you know that my family raised me like the rest of my siblings? Even though I was different?” Lance asked.

“What?” Keith asked.

Lance shut his eyes, letting the tears fall harder as he couldn't keep the sobs in anymore.

* * *

_“Mamá! Papá!” Lance called, running into the kitchen with an envelope. He bounced excitedly, looking at everyone._

_“Yes, sweetie?” She asked, sitting at the table while breastfeeding Robin. She'd brought him home a week ago from the hospital, and both Kylie and Rose were both very curious about him._

_“I got my letter from the Garrison!” He squealed, and Vanessa paused in her work, looking at him._

_“Well, open it!” She pulled a chair out for him, patting it. “EVERYONE! KITCHEN! LANCE GOT HIS LETTER!!” She called loudly._

_His abuela and Arthur ran in, followed by Mateo, Veronica, Marco, Luis, Jenny, Haley, Holly, Olivia, Javier, and Kylie. Rose was in Veronica’s arms._

_Eterio set dinner down, standing next to Edelira. Lance could feel the tension around everyone, seeing Vanessa rub her slightly swollen stomach as he soon opened the letter, reading it quietly._

_“I GOT IN!!” He screamed, and everyone erupted in excitement, hugging him tightly as they rocked him back and forth. He laughed, smiling happily as he cried and hugged them all back._

* * *

“My mom forgot what  one of the things was in English. She said that I was diagnosed with ADHD, and that I mix letters and numbers up a lot, and I uh- I have autism or anxiety or something, so that means I panic over things and freak out. But-” Sobs fell from him. “That- nobody else- they-”

“They believed in you, no matter what.” Keith finished, and Lance soon felt a hand lift his chin. He looked into Keith’s violet eyes, felt his thumb wipe his tears away.

He shut his eyes at the feeling, and he didn't even notice that he leaned in until he felt the warm, soft pair of lips against his own. A kiss.

He'd never kissed a boy before.

“I believe in you, too, Lance.” Keith whispered, having pulled away.

Lance kissed him again, pulling him close. Keith’s arms wrapped around him, and for the first time in a long while, he forgot what homesickness was.

How could you be homesick when you were home, after all?

**Author's Note:**

> His sibling's ages and names from his flashbacks from when he was six, and from when he got accepted at the Garrison:
> 
> Arthur (9/17)  
> Vanessa (8/16)  
> Lancelot (6/14)  
> Mateo (6/14)  
> Veronica (4/12)  
> Marco (3/11)  
> Luis (3/11)  
> Jenny (2/10)  
> Evan (1/9)  
> Haley (not born/8)  
> Holly (not born/8)  
> -  
> Olivia (7)  
> Javier (6)  
> Kylie (5)  
> Rose (3)  
> Robin (1w)
> 
> Also: I know zero Spanish, so I used Google translate, so the one Spanish part is Edelira telling Lance and Veronica to stop pulling at each other's hair


End file.
